Living by Rule (7)

Be faithful to the rule of the gentle Lord, because therein lies your salvation. Far better than you not violate it while in this present life.

                                                - Rule of Comghall

“Communal disciplines” refers to those activities in which the members of a monastic community engaged together, or were at all times expected to practice, as it were, together.

It’s not difficult to see that such disciplines could help to shape the character and mood of a community, promote unity and harmony, provide a rhythm for daily life, establish a connection with other communities of believers, and reinforce the disciplines monks practiced in private.

It’s somewhat difficult to sort these practices into categories. Nevertheless, for our purposes we will consider three different kinds of communal disciplines: obedience, worship (including vigils), and meals.

Obedience
The members of a monastic community practiced submission and obedience according to a hierarchy which shows up in numerous of the rules in The Celtic Monk.

First, all monks were expected to obey the Lord. The goal of all discipline was to increase love for the Lord, and this should be practiced and nurtured at all times, when monks were alone or when they were together. Love for and submission to the Lord was the objective toward which all the activities of a monastic community were directed.

Second, monks were to obey the rule of their community: “No one can captivate a person who willingly submits to the rule” (Rule of Ciarán). The rule guided their growth and ministries, as well as their lives together. It was provided to help monks grow in the Lord, which a monk could “prove” for himself by simply submitting to it (Rule of Comghall). As all submitted to the rule of their community, each knew what to expect of the other, and how they might help one another when departures from the rule were in evidence. All monks were expected to be “constant in pointing out the obligation of the monastic rule” (Rule of Ailbe).

Third, monks were to obey their abbot, or, the head of the community: “The monks shall pay heed to the erennagh until death, that they may deserve to hear the Abbot of the Archangels say, ‘Come to me, you are very welcome’” (Rule of Ailbe). The abbot was to be “a man of gentle and compassionate disposition who shall not be a seeker after wealth” (Rule of Ailbe). To the extent that he was such a person, we can assume that submitting to his leadership was not an onerous task. The abbot was to “love the souls of all, just as you love your own.” It was the duty of the abbot “to exalt every good and to root out all evil”, and he was to be a man of great learning, with a heart to heal (Rule of Carthage).

Monks were also to show respect to seniors, to “reverence and be submissive to” those who were elderly, whether they were yet active or confined to their cells (Rule of Carthage). Some of those seniors served as mentors or spiritual directors to younger monks, and they were to be obeyed in all their instructions. Monks who did not submit to their spiritual directors could be suspended from the Lord’s Supper until they repented (Rule of the Céli Dé).

Finally, monks were to submit to one another, always giving deference, always seeking to aid or encourage, always treating one another with courtesy, respect, and edification. So whether they were working together in fields, villages, or the scriptorium or refectory of the monastery, they were to regard one another as brothers and co-laborers, and to show them the love of Christ at all times.

Worship
All monks were to come when summoned to worship, whether by the ringing of a bell or the call of a senior. Worship was a part of each day’s activity in monastic communities, although the Lord’s Supper was not always served during worship. Worship consisted of singing, prayers, silence (“two thirds of piety consists in being silent” – Rule of Ailbe), practicing cross vigil, and the reading and hearing of the Word of God. Monks were to be especially diligent in making it to assembly, for this was a time of offering a “wonderful gift” to the Lord; thus, as they came to worship monks “should have compunction of heart, the shedding of tears, and the raising of hands to God” (Rule of Carthage).

Singing was an important part of worship, in particular, “the songs which the devout have always sung” (Rule of Cormac Mac Ciolionáin). Monks were expected to be able to sing through the entire psalter. Some of the rules indicate that the psalter was to be prayed or sung daily – all 150 psalms. Since “paucity of prayer ill-becomes the servant of God” (Rule of the Grey Monks), monks would find in the psalter abundant resources to help them press on toward the goal of prayer without ceasing.

Communal worship was practiced not only when monks were together, but as they observed, wherever they may have been, the summons to prayer that signaled the arrival of each canonical hour. “The assiduous observance of the canonical hours is regarded as primary” (Rule of Ailbe). In some cases, prayer during the canonical hours could be accompanied by cross vigil or genuflection (cf. Rule of Carthage). Each monk should be “constant in prayer, never forgetting his canonical hours” (Rule of Ailbe). There is some indication that monastic leaders understood this practice of maintaining the hours of prayer as a way of promoting the unity of faith among all the saints, present, scattered, and departed. Here is how the Rule of Carthage expressed this: “When you come to celebrate the hours, be mindful of all people of faith, rather than of some individual”, such as oneself only, we might suppose.

Meals
Finally, monks observed strict procedure in taking meals together. Meals were not a time for mere socializing. There would be conversation, of course, but never loud, and never merely about mundane things.

During the meal Scriptures were read, as well as the lives of great saints and the rules of their own and other monastic communities (Rule of the Céli Dé). Silence was generally the norm, so that all might have the opportunity to benefit from spiritual nourishment as well as physical. Eating was a time to focus on God and spiritual food. Monks were not to see meals as a time for mere bodily indulgence.

Diets were regulated from one period to the next. In the main, they were austere, but sufficient. Monks were not to be lovers of food, but they were to be grateful for the many different foods the Lord provided in His goodness.

Life in a Celtic monastery was thus highly structured, but not tedious. If it had been tedious it would not have attracted the multiplied thousands of young men and women who flocked to the monasteries, in Ireland and Scotland, as well as on the continent. Here young people discovered a purpose in life, true companionship, the practice of self-denial, and the life of martyrdom in love of Christ and the company of true soul friends.

Surely adopting these practices, in ways appropriate to our own Christian communities, can help us to regain some of the spiritual vision and vitality that sustained the Celtic Revival for nearly four centuries.

T. M. Moore